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Thursday 13 August 2009

Swedish inspiration for the 'Nostalgia' Project

When I visited Sweden last year I managed to prevail upon my wife to go to the Swedish Army Museum in Stockholm. One of the things that I bought at the museum's shop was a short booklet entitled SVENSKA ARMENS PANSAR - DEN SVENSKA STRIDSVAGNSMATERIELENS HISTORIA. This is an illustrated guide to the armoured vehicles used by the Swedish Army since 1920.

This is one of the books that I have been looking at for inspiration for my 'Nostalgia' project, and I am slowly coming to the conclusion that the Swedish Army will make an excellent basis for the army of my vaguely Northern European/Baltic States/Eastern European imagi-nation, Opeland.

The reasoning behind this is that the equipment used by the Swedes looks similar to, but not the same as, that used by Germany in the late 1930s and early 1940s. For example, the Stridsvagn m/37 looks similar to the PzKpfw I ...

... and the Stridsvagn m/38 is about the same size as a PzKpfw II but is armed with a 37mm gun.

The Stridsvagn m/42 has a 75mm gun, and is about the same size as the later model PzKpfw III.

The Swedes even used the chassis of the Stridsvagn m/42 as the basis of a self-propelled gun, just like the Germans used the chassis of the PzKpfw III as a basis for the StuG III.

If I do use the Swedish Army of the late 1930s and early 1940s as the basis on my Opelandic Army, I will need to acquire quite a few ROCO PzKpfw IIIs and/or StuG IIIs as well as some other bits and pieces.

6 comments:

  1. Bob good choice because you could also get to use Landsverk armoured cars...

    Clive

    ReplyDelete
  2. If you will forgive a slightly off topic comment?

    I was leafing through your 'Last Crusade' book last night and I must say that I found it to still be a real mine of useful information.

    Although my library and published sources have increased dramatically in the last 15 years it is still at my elbow for a quick answer to all those niggling questions.

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Clive,

    I had forgotten them! An excellent suggestion!

    Many thanks,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  4. John,

    Many thanks for your very kind words.

    I have thought of trying to get a revised version into print at sometime in the future as I have done a lot more research over they eyars - particularly about the naval aspects of the war - that might be useful.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  5. Been following your blog for a while, and have just gotten around to getting to the stage where I can post replies.

    I really like what you've been writing about. The inter-war period stuff makes for fascinating what if scenarios.

    So I look forward to more as and when it comes. Oh yeah, be ambitious, as you can always cut your clothe to suit later.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Paint it Pink,

    Thanks for your kind words.

    As you will see from my lastest blog entry, I am having to have a bit of a re-think ... but whatever happend the 'Nostalgia' project will progress, however, slowly that might be.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

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